The Gospel and Salvation according to various faith traditions...

[Ernie]

I'm trying to identify the differences between various faith traditions on the subject of salvation and the Gospel. I'm aware that I may not being identifying these correctly. Some may be too simplistic and others too lengthy. So help me out.

1. For the Orthodox, salvation is achieved by Christ’s triumph over death in the Resurrection. As a result, Greek art, unlike Western art doesn’t fixate on the figure of the bleeding, crucified Christ. When we come to Christ as sinners, we have no works to offer to Him, but only faith and repentance. Orthodox believe that there is nothing that a person can do to earn salvation. It is rather a gift from God. But once we come to Him and receive the gift of salvation, we enter into a sacred covenant to honor Him with good works. The sacraments of Baptism (Rom 6:1-11) and the Eucharist (1 Cor 10:16-22; 11:23-32) are decisive to salvation.

2. For Catholics, Jesus saved man and allowed him to reach heaven by paying the price for sin through his death by crucifixion. Eternal life, divine life, cannot be merited but is a free gift of God. The crucifixion of Jesus is explained as an atoning sacrifice, which, in the words of the Gospel of John, "takes away the sins of the world." One's reception of salvation is related to justification. Salvation is complete union with the Blessed Trinity. It begins with faith in Jesus Christ and baptism, but it does not end there. Catholics don’t believe that faith alone saves us, for they do not believe that an unincarnate faith can save. Salvation is, then, a living relationship with God. It is created and sustained by grace, is born in faith, grows in love and bears fruit in glory. Participation in the sacraments, offered to them through the Church, is a way Catholics obtain grace, forgiveness of sins and formally ask for the Holy Spirit. These sacraments are: Baptism, Confirmation (Chrismation), the Eucharist, Penance and Reconciliation, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.

3. Evangelicals: They often talk about personal salvation, about “how you get saved,” and the familiar answer is: Accept Christ as your personal Savior in sincere prayer, ask Him to come into your heart and forgive your sins, and you are saved. You are then put right before God and enjoy a personal relationship with Christ. This (forensic or legal justification) act/event is called “justification by faith” or more generally “salvation by faith,” apart from good works. Many Evangelicals recall the exact date and time of being “born again” and celebrate it as the foremost event in their lives. Evangelicals do not differentiate between works of the OT law, works that do not flow from a sanctified heart, and works of righteousness. They consider all works "filthy rags".

Subcategories of Evangelicals:
3A (Evangelicals: cheap grace/unconditional eternal security) If a 3A Evangelical lives an unholy life, it is assumed that he is still a Christian since he cannot lose his salvation.

3B (Evangelicals: costly grace/Lordship salvation/unconditional eternal security) If a 3B Evangelical starts out as a Christian but eventually walks away from God and holy living, it is assumed that he never was a Christian or else he would not be living in bondage to sin.

3C (Evangelicals: Arminian, one can lose his salvation) ????

4. Plain Anabaptists: Salvation is by faith. We cannot earn our salvation. Unholy living jeopardizes our salvation.

Subcategories of Plain Anabaptists:
4A (Older Orders) We cannot know if we are saved. We do the best we can and hope God will be satisfied. The more "alive" Old Orders believe we can have a "lively hope".

4B (Conservatives) We can know that we are saved. Basically #3, plus, "works show that we are indeed saved".

4C (Anabaptists with early church/early Anabaptist theology)
"Christ in you", Christ taking up residence in us makes us righteous and enables us to live lives that are pleasing to God, even if we do not do it perfectly.

[RZehr]

How many 4B’s would not agree with 4C? I think not many.

[Swiss Bro]

Missing the mainline protestant (reformed and Lutheran) approach: saved if baptized as an infant, and Calvinist: saved if predestined.

[Fidelio]

Missing the mainline protestant (reformed and Lutheran) approach: saved if baptized as an infant, and Calvinist: saved if predestined.

I joined the Lutheran church when I was 27 years old and was baptized there as an adult, yet they taught that baptism gives one faith. However, I was born again in Sept/Oct of 1984 and was not baptized until February of 1985. So I always puzzled, what did baptism do for me, if it gives faith, but I already had faith.

[Aaron]

Missing the mainline protestant (reformed and Lutheran) approach: saved if baptized as an infant, and Calvinist: saved if predestined.

I joined the Lutheran church when I was 27 years old and was baptized there as an adult, yet they taught that baptism gives one faith. However, I was born again in Sept/Oct of 1984 and was not baptized until February of 1985. So I always puzzled, what did baptism do for me, if it gives faith, but I already had faith.

excerpt: "That realm, that all-embracing cosmos, has many strange facets. Sin of course has its prior place there, and worldly lusts; but no less part of it are our more estimable human standards and ways of doing things. The human mind, its culture and its philosophies, all are included, together with all the very best of humanity's social and political ideologies. Alongside these too we should doubtless place the world's religions, and among them those speckled birds, worldly Christianity and its "world Church." Wherever the power of natural man dominates, there you have an element in that system which is under the direct inspiration of Satan."

(what immersion saves us from )
http://articles.ochristian.com/article1912.shtml

[Bootstrap]

"Christ in you", Christ taking up residence in us makes us righteous and enables us to live lives that are pleasing to God, even if we do not do it perfectly.

I suspect most faith traditions would agree with this statement.

For me, some of the real strengths of Mennonites I have known in healthy churches (plain and unplain), are:

• (1) emphasis on the Holy Spirit and the real presence of Jesus Christ in our lives and in our fellowship,
  (2) emphasis on living out our lives as loving servants to others around us,
  (3) emphasis on simple obedience to Scripture with a healthy skepticism of building layers of theology on top of each other

I think I find people who understand these things in other denominations and faith traditions too. I have met Orthodox, Catholic, Evangelical, and Pentecostal Christians who check all those boxes, and there are strong traditions within parts of various faith traditions that emphasize these things.

[Bootstrap]

I'm struck by the levels of detail you give for Anabaptists and Mennonites, even without mentioning non-plain Mennonites at all. I suspect that's because this is the branch of Christianity you know best.

When I lived in Germany, I talked to a German who told me that German food is among the best in the world because it has so much variety. I asked him about Chinese food, he said it was all just rice and stir fry. I asked him about Indian food, he said it was all just curry. I asked him about American food, he said it was mostly hamburgers and french fries. To be fair, I think a lot of people probably would have similar stereotypes about German food.

To do justice to any faith tradition, I think you would have to take a lot of breadth and depth into account. After all, each faith tradition is a long history of God working in the lives of lots of people over time, revealing himself in various ways, with seasons of obedience and seasons of disobedience, sensitivity to what the Holy Spirit is teaching in some areas, deafness to the Holy Spirit in others.

[Aaron]

.....
To do justice to any faith tradition, I think you would have to take a lot of breadth and depth into account. After all, each faith tradition is a long history of God working in the lives of lots of people over time, revealing himself in various ways, with seasons of obedience and seasons of disobedience,.....

What is deafness? Would that be "a famine of the hearing of the Word of God" as written in the Word of God ?
Who sent that famine ?
Who sends revival? Who is able or even who is willing to drink the cup that Jesus asked His permanent disciples if they could drink it ?
articles . ochristian.com/article6914.shtml


"What happened immediately after Pentecost? They prospered-yes? No! -- They went to jail! It wasn't prosperity; it was prison, pain, privation, and persecution."

[Bootstrap]

.....
To do justice to any faith tradition, I think you would have to take a lot of breadth and depth into account. After all, each faith tradition is a long history of God working in the lives of lots of people over time, revealing himself in various ways, with seasons of obedience and seasons of disobedience,.....

What is deafness? Would that be "a famine of the hearing of the Word of God" as written in the Word of God ?
Who sent that famine ?
Who sends revival? Who is able or even who is willing to drink the cup that Jesus asked His permanent disciples if they could drink it ?
articles . ochristian.com/article6914.shtml

"What happened immediately after Pentecost? They prospered-yes? No! -- They went to jail! It wasn't prosperity; it was prison, pain, privation, and persecution."

I'm responding without reading the article, but I agree with what you say in this post. We need to hunger and thirst for God's word and the Holy Spirit among us. We need to be willing to become the hands and feet of Jesus in this world, suffering servants sent to the world around us.

And that may lead to persecution. Sometimes from people who consider themselves Christians.

What are our eyes focused on?

[ohio jones]

Subcategories of Evangelicals:
3A (Evangelicals: cheap grace/unconditional eternal security) If a 3A Evangelical lives an unholy life, it is assumed that he is still a Christian since he cannot lose his salvation.

3B (Evangelicals: costly grace/Lordship salvation/unconditional eternal security) If a 3B Evangelical starts out as a Christian but eventually walks away from God and holy living, it is assumed that he never was a Christian or else he would not be living in bondage to sin.

3C (Evangelicals: Arminian, one can lose his salvation) ????

3D (Evangelicals: conditional eternal security) If a 3D Evangelical starts out as a Christian but eventually walks away from God and holy living, it is assumed that he was likely a Christian previously, but is rejecting the Spirit's prompting to return to God and at some point will no longer have the ability to repent.